Office 365 License Comparison: Business Plans Vs. E5, E3 and E1

Choosing an Office 365 license is a critical step before migrating to the cloud. With multiple options for small, medium and enterprise businesses, navigating the differences can get overwhelming. This Office 365 license comparison will reveal the options available within Business and Enterprise options available to help you make the correct choice for your organization.

Price Comparison for Office 365 Business Plans and Enterprise Licenses

When comparing Office 365 licenses, price is one of the first questions decision-makers ask. Here are the prices of each Office 365 Business and Enterprise license:

1 Year Agreement ($/user/month)

1 Month Agreement ($/user/month)

Office 365 Business Essentials

$5.00

$6.00

Office 365 Business Plan

$8.25

$10.00

Office 365 Business Premium

$12.50

$15.00

Office Enterprise E1

$8.00

Annual Commitment Only

Office Enterprise E3

$20.00

Annual Commitment Only

Office Enterprise E5

$35.00

Annual Commitment Only

Office Enterprise Pro Plus

$12.00

Annual Commitment Only

The base price per user for Office 365 Business and Enterprise Plans ranges from $5 to $30, and this cost can quickly add up for larger organizations. On the other hand, if you rely on certain functionalities like Rights Management or cloud PBX, bundling these services into your license can actually save your organization money.

To better weigh the costs to your organization, let’s compare the features of the Office 365 Business and Enterprise plans.

How Office 365 Enterprise and Business Plans Differ

Both the Office 365 Business plans and Enterprise plans are available for organizations with fewer than 300 employees.

SharePoint (company-wide intranet and team sites to connect people to content, expertise and processes)

Skype for Business: Unlimited HD video conferencing for up to 250 people

Microsoft Teams chat-based workspace

Microsoft Bookings to enable customers to schedule appointments

Microsoft Planner to manage tasks and teamwork

Yammer to collaborate across departments and locations

FastTrack deployment support (with purchase of 50+ seats)

24/7 phone and web support

Next, we take a look at the Office 365 Enterprise plans. As mentioned above, these are only available on a one-year commitment basis.

Office 365 Enterprise Plans

Office 365 Business plans are great for companies just starting out or that only require limited functionality. For organizations with 300+ users or those looking for a more robust solution, Office 365 Enterprise plans are available. With Enterprise plans, you can choose from Office 365 E5, E3 or E1 licenses.

Office 365 Enterprise E1

E1 is the cheapest Enterprise plan (and actually costs less than the Business Premium license). Here’s what you get with the E1 license:

The Basics

Price

$8/user/month (annual commitment)

Who It’s For

Users that don’t need desktop versions of Outlook or Office applications but still require eDiscovery and data governance.

Here’s how Office 365 Enterprise E1 differs from Business Premium:

With E1, you lose desktop versions of Office applications. You must use the online versions of Outlook and other Office applications like Word or PowerPoint online.

Office 365 Enterprise E3

The E3 license is one of the more popular options for digital-driven businesses. You gain email, archiving, information protection and more storage options for only $5-$7.50 more per user per month than Business Premium.

The Office 365 Business Premium plan is most comparable to the Enterprise E3 plan in terms of base features.

Unlike Business Premium, E3 includes:

Exchange Online Archiving (EOA) and Legal Hold

Unified eDiscovery Center

Rights management, data loss prevention and encryption

Ability to add on PSTN

Office 365 Enterprise E5

Building off the E1 and E3 business plans, Office 365 E5 is the highest tier Microsoft offers. With this license, you gain:

The Basics

Price

$35/user/month (annual commitment)

Who It’s For

If you use or plan to use Skype for Business Cloud PBX, we recommend the Office 365 E5 license. For $35/user/month, you gain a complete, consolidated phone system along with all functionality available within Office 365.

If any license doesn’t suit your needs, you can also add on specific features like Skype Cloud PBX. But often, the cost of upgrading is cheaper than ballooning a license with monthly add-on charges. (Read more about add-ons here.) You can also mix and match licenses depending on user needs to better control costs.

Capital Techies cloud licensing services make it easy to purchase, transfer and manage your licenses. As your cloud solutions provider, Capital Techies handles all billing and subscriptions for your Office 365 products. You continue paying Microsoft the monthly license fee, and we take care of the rest.

Have questions about which Office 365 license is right for your organization? Request a quote to see how much you can save.

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